Meet Helen

And no, she's not staying. And yes, I know that's what I said the last time, but it's true this time. She is a foster for Border Collie Rescue of MN, but her foster home went out of town for the week so she's staying with me.

They told me she was blind, so I was all like "Cool, she can stay with me for the week! We can do blind!" They did not tell me she was severely mentally handicapped. She is extremely fearful. She does not like to be touched. She especially despises being carried, and flails and scratches the whole time. Which is unfortunate, because she currently lives in my basement and since she doesn't know how to walk up stairs her options are being carried or dragged. I feel like the former is more humane.

She doesn't know how to walk on a leash, or even, really in a straight line, so a bit of dragging is inevitable here. Her MO is tweaking out as soon as you set her down somewhere, just kind of walking in circles aimlessly, not even circles, really, just kind of pin-balling around in a small area in complete confusion. She doesn't respond to my voice, though she is supposedly not deaf. After tweaking out for awhile she will lay down. If I try to come near her or touch her she starts tweaking out again.

She doesn't really know how to eat. I tried to give her a piece of cheese last night. She was clearly interested in it. She sniffed around for it, sort of, and eventually found it, but then didn't know what to do with it. She kind of mashed it with her lips, but wouldn't open her mouth. She likes her food, but I imagine tries to eat it in the same way, without opening her mouth, because she spills most of it out of her bowl. Apparently she is quite persistent, as I guess she does usually finish eating it. This morning, most of it had been scattered about her crate, so we'll see how much she actually got into her stomach. She drinks water the same way. She doesn't use her tongue--just kind of gums at it.

And she's not really housetrained, of course, most of the time not knowing where she is. And since she doesn't seem to understand even praise I don't know how you'd ever housetrain her.

Poor girl was dumped in a shelter. Not sure what the rest of her life will hold, but at the least, warmth, good food, clean water, a soft bed, and love.